Novak Djokovic admits that he was affected by the absence of his father from his semi-final match at the Australian Open despite winning in straight sets.
The 21-time Grand Slam champion disposed of America’s Tommy Paul 7-5, 6-1, 6-2, with relative ease but in the hours leading up to the encounter, his family had been involved in a controversial incident at the tournament. On Wednesday, Djokovic’s father Srdjan was seen on video posing with a group of fans with Russian flags who were chanting pro-Russian phrases. Even though such actions have been banned from the tournament after an incident involving a Ukrainian player in the first round.
Amidst the ongoing war in Ukraine, the video prompted anger from some with Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia calling for Srdjan to be banned from the tournament. Vasyl Myroshnychenko described the flag as a symbol of the invasion of Ukraine and branded the incident as a ‘disgrace for the tournament.’
On Friday morning Srdjan issued a statement confirming that what happened was unintentional and his family never support wars due to their own experiences. He also confirmed he would not be attending Djokovic’s latest match which the tennis star admits affected him.
“It was unfortunate that the misinterpretation of what happened yesterday has escalated to such a high level,” Djokovic told reporters. ‘There were a lot of conversations with the tournament director, with the media and everyone else.’
“It (the video) had got to me, of course, as well. I was not aware of it till last night. Then, of course, I was not pleased to see that.’
“My father, my whole family, and myself, have been through several wars during the ’90s. As my father put in a statement, we are against the war, we never will support any violence or any war. We know how devastating that is for the family, for people in any country that is going through the war.”
According to Djokovic, Sedjan believed he was taking a photo with somebody from Serbia as part of his usual post-match routine of meeting fans of his son. The flag of both countries features the same colours but in different orders. However, the Serbian flag has a coat of arms on the front while the Russian one doesn’t.
The incident was the latest blow for Djokovic who has endured a complex relationship with Australian officials in recent months. After losing a legal battle over the legitimacy of his visa due to being unvaccinated, he was deported 12 months ago and was banned for three years from re-entering before the government waived that penalty last November.
“My father was passing through. There were a lot of Serbian flags around. That’s what he thought. He thought he was taking a photo with somebody from Serbia. That’s it. He moved on.” Djokovic commented.
“Of course, it’s not pleasant for me to go through this with all the things that I had to deal with last year and this year in Australia. It’s not something that I want or need.”
“I hope that people will let it be, and we can focus on tennis.”
Djokovic says he hopes Srdjan will be present during his showdown against Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Australian Open on Sunday where he will be seeking to win the title for a historic 10th time. Should he win, the Serbian will also return to world No.1 and equal Rafael Nadal’s record for most Grand Slam titles won at 22.
With it not being the first time he has been involved in some form of controversy, Djokovic says he is able to cope with his critics with the help of his past experiences, as well as his team.
“I have a team of people around me, my family members who are staying with me in the same accommodation or spending an entire day with me. I have an agreement with them that they give me this kind of protection,” the Serbian explained.
“I don’t want to hear things about what was written in this article or that news or that news. I want to keep my mind as sane or serene as possible in order to conserve the vital energy that I need for the court.”
Djokovic has now won 27 consecutive matches at the Australian Open.